Chapter 85
* You have reached the current maximum growth limit.
Please clear the next objective to promote.
Objective: Defeat the powerful enemy standing in your way.
The words floating on my status window made my heart race with excitement. I stretched with a satisfied look on my face, and Ichie, standing beside me, tilted her head and asked with a puzzled expression.
“Su-hyeon-san. Did something good happen?”
“Yeah. I just finished filling out all the stat requirements.”
How many months had passed since I’d taken down that C-rank monster? Through endless cycles of sex, training, and meditation, I’d hit the minimum thresholds at a speed far faster than most. Ichie was still only just cracking into the low twenties, around the same timeframe as Kim Ju-sung. Ju-sung, who’d always had solid base stamina, had edged me out by a hair in reaching the cap, then claimed he was busy and stopped showing up at the gym entirely, burying himself in theory classes and monster studies instead.
Ichie looked at me with a faintly urgent expression.
“Su-hyeon-san. You’re too fast. Just wait a little longer for me. I’ll catch up soon.”
“I’ll wait. I can’t take the exam alone anyway.”
The promotion exam required two people. Even if one of us fell short, we could still sit for it, but then only one would promote and the team would end up in an awkward spot. Ichie seemed to realize I was waiting for her and spoke carefully.
“Su-hyeon-san… even so, if you want to promote first, you can. I’m the one who’s lagging behind. Doing it this way just puts you at a disadvantage.”
“I want to promote together with you, Ichie. We’re a team. We should do it together.”
Ichie ducked her head with a shy little smile at my words. She was worried about me, yet clearly happy with what I’d said. I gave a wry smile and ruffled her hair. If I were only chasing efficiency and flashy results, promoting right now would have been the correct move.
When I asked the instructor, I learned I could take the promotion with someone else if I wanted. The problem was that the only other person who’d hit the requirements right now was Kim Ju-sung. If I wanted to sit the exam immediately, I’d have to team up with him.
“Ugh.”
Just imagining running a gate with Kim Ju-sung made me scowl. There was zero guarantee that steroid-popping bastard—who’d even resorted to cheating just to take first in the Rookie King tournament—wouldn’t smash me in the back of the head the moment we were inside a gate.
I’d rather take a small loss and join the training camp with Ichie than sit an exam with a guy like that. I pulled her into a hug.
“Ichie. Don’t worry about me. Just climb up at your own pace.”
“Okay.”
She hugged me back tightly. We’d just finished working out and were both sticky with sweat, but neither of us cared.
After training, Senior Yu-jung advised me that promoting sooner would be better, but when I explained that doing so meant taking the exam with Kim Ju-sung, she nodded awkwardly and gave a strained little laugh.
“Ah… well, I guess it can’t be helped then.”
I didn’t even need to explain that I’d hit the apprentice hunter ceiling—Jeon-neung-je already knew. The moment I sank into meditation, she spoke to me in that soft, languid voice of hers.
“So that exam is coming up soon.”
“Yes. I think I’ll be able to move up to D-rank now.”
“If anything happens, I’ll help you, so don’t worry too much.”
Jeon-neung-je said it with a smile. After finishing our training session, I sat across from her and we chatted warmly. She wore a gentle smile, her large breasts swaying softly with every small movement. I kept my eyes fixed on them as I spoke.
“Thanks to everything you’ve been doing for me, Jeon-neung-je, I feel like I’ve been growing in all sorts of ways.”
“Isn’t that only natural? My name is Jeon-neung-je, after all. With power, one can do anything. Right now you’re still an apprentice, so all I can do is help you grow… but the stronger you become, the more I will be able to do as well.”
“What kinds of things will you be able to do, for example?”
Anything that expanded what she could do was good news for me too. Jeon-neung-je smiled as she answered.
“I will be able to widen the breadth of your growth even further. And I will be able to protect you from mental attacks—things like hypnosis or wicked illusions.”
Laying a stronger foundation for growth and granting immunity to cheap mental assaults… just hearing it sounded excellent. When she saw the eager look on my face, Jeon-neung-je grew even more animated and continued.
“There are many other benefits as well. Once you become D-rank, the limits of your own mental strength will rise, allowing us to train for longer periods and at higher intensities.”
“Higher intensity training?”
“For instance, until now, if you took a hit to a vital point or simply felt a bit tired, your mental image would collapse, would it not? Once you are D-rank, the mental world will not break even if an arm or leg is severed.”
“That’s nice.”
It was a real advantage—my mental image had a habit of shattering at the worst moments during spars. After saying that much, Jeon-neung-je lifted her head and leaned forward.
“And so… you will not wake even under stronger stimulation.”
She smiled as she said it. Her hair floated gently around her face as if she were underwater, and that beautiful smile made her look breathtaking. She reminded me of the heroine from some Chinese wuxia film I’d seen as a kid. Still wearing that radiant, soft smile, she continued.
“Because you will not wake even under stronger stimulation… we will be able to train your focus… more intensely.”
Stronger stimulation. I finally realized what she was getting at. My face flushed bright red in sudden panic, and Jeon-neung-je sat back down, giggling.
“Yes. Stronger stimulation. What do you think? Doesn’t just imagining it make your mouth water?”
I carefully let my gaze drop to her chest again. Pale white skin with faint blue veins just barely visible. I wanted to knead those breasts. Catching the direction of my stare, Jeon-neung-je’s eyes turned even more sly.
“Let us talk about it after you become D-rank. I’m sure there are things you want to try, aren’t there? Don’t you want to test how far you can go—for the sake of training?”
“Yes, of course. For the sake of training.”
Strictly for mental fortitude training. I was definitely going to get a paizuri and a blowjob out of this.
“Yu-jung unnie. What should we do once we hit D-rank?”
Ichie asked as she stuck a straw into her lemonade. A slice of lemon bobbed on the surface, bumped into her straw, and sank with a soft glug. Kim Yu-jung stirred her americano and frowned once. A D-rank promotion felt like it deserved some kind of event, but she couldn’t think of anything concrete.
So she said,
“Hmm. Maybe the three of us just grab a meal?”
“We do that all the time. That’s not an event.”
The two of them sat at the table talking. Today Jung Su-hyeon had finished the entire Physical Training course and gone off to handle the paperwork for theory classes. Because Ichie still hadn’t met the promotion requirements, she couldn’t follow him and was sitting with Kim Yu-jung instead.
Kim Yu-jung said,
“Even if we call it an event, is there anything special left? I feel like I’ve already done everything I can for him…”
“What, what have you done?”
Ichie’s eyes sparkled as she asked. Kim Yu-jung realized her slip too late, covered her mouth, and shook her head vigorously.
“W-what are you asking, Ichie-yang? That’s incredibly rude!”
“Is asking about birthday presents rude?”
“No…”
Ichie tilted her head. Kim Yu-jung’s face twisted in flustered embarrassment before turning bright red. This little minx was teasing her on purpose. Kim Yu-jung cried out,
“Ichie-yang! Really…!”
“My Korean is still clumsy. Please understand.”
When Ichie told that blatantly obvious lie, Kim Yu-jung shot back,
“Don’t lie. Last time I saw you on the subway you were buying tickets and everything by yourself. You’re actually really good at Korean, aren’t you? All that ‘hae-yo~’ ‘i-geo-eyo~’ stuff is just a bit, right?”
“It’s not a lie. My Korean is still clumsy. Reading is fine, but speaking is hard.”
If Ichie insisted, there was nothing more to say. Kim Yu-jung nodded and changed the subject.
“So then, Ichie, what kind of event are you planning with our Su-hyeon?”
“Something way better than unnie’s.”
“W-what are you going to do? How do you even know what I’m planning? I’m a D-rank hunter, you know—I make decent money. I could take him to an omakase place and buy him something delicious.”
The idea that Ichie might throw a better event than her own irked Kim Yu-jung for no good reason. She kept glancing over, and Ichie nodded.
“Yu-jung unnie. Try something better than that.”
“B-better?”
Kim Yu-jung tilted her head. The phrase “better event” had her curious too. Ichie glanced around once, then leaned in and whispered. Kim Yu-jung’s brow furrowed as she listened; then she lifted her head, frowning harder, and asked again,
“W-what did you just say?”
Ichie smiled and repeated it in an even smaller voice. The moment Kim Yu-jung finally understood, her face went scarlet and she shot to her feet.
“Y-you’re crazy! You must be crazy! I-I’m not doing that! Absolutely not!”
“Really not? Three is better than two.”
“Ichie-yang. Th-that’s the kind of thing only perverts do!”
Kim Yu-jung shook her head hard, trying to talk her out of it. Ichie answered with a perfectly calm face.
“If you do it every day you’re a pervert. If you do it for a special occasion, you’re not.”
“Th-that… Su-hyeon wouldn’t even like…”
Kim Yu-jung trailed off mid-sentence. Ichie smiled and finished for her.
“Guys like it when there are lots of girls.”
It was one of those quiet days that felt like the calm before a storm. The two women who had just made some mysterious promise Su-hyeon knew nothing about burned with a strange new determination.
The date for the training camp was right around the corner.